The droids in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett aren’t wild enough for the real world

The mechanically complex robots in the latest Star Wars universe series are wildly imaginative, but not wild enough to match real world robots.

Robots populate the sets of the two new popular Star Wars series, The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Droids appear in every episode of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett to date. The Mandalorian even gives a multi-episode story arc to one droid, IG-11, who starts out as a hunter tasked to kill Baby Yoda and then ends up as the child’s nurse and protector. But how do these imaginative droids compare to the imagination of real world robots? My Science Robotics article tackles that question!

The robots are great starting points to learn more about robot design, see the topics page on Robot Design for more scifi and of course my books to learn more.

An interview about the article appears in Inverse: STAR WARS: A ROBOTICS EXPERT REVEALS THE THE MANDALORIAN'S BIGGEST FLAW These are not the droids you’re looking for… The interview has more of a discussion of more AI.

An interview with SyFy has perhaps the best title: THESE AREN'T THE DROIDS YOU’RE LOOKING FOR BECAUSE STAR WARS APPARENTLY GOT THEM WRONG with the great byline: The droids you are looking for might actually exist in this galaxy.

Other venues have dicussed the acticle: see Tech Xplore, Anime Drawn,